Big game for Patriots’ Brandon Lloyd

A week after Brandon Lloyd caught only pass against Miami, the wide receiver caught seven for 89 yards and a touchdown in the win against the Houston Texans Monday night. Lloyd even recovered a fumble in the end zone for a score.

A week removed from his one-reception performance in a win at Miami, Brandon Lloyd might have been doing handstands after the Patriots’ 42-14 blowout win over the Houston Texans Monday night at Gillette Stadium.

Lloyd had just resurrected himself with seven catches for 89 yards, including a season-best 37-yard touchdown reception from Tom Brady. He even recovered a fumble in the end zone to cement the game early in the fourth quarter. Two touchdowns in the biggest game of the season and Lloyd acted like he’d done nothing more than buy a can of Coke at 7-Eleven. It just wasn’t a big deal.

What does the win – the Pats’ seventh straight – say about the team, he was asked?

“I don’t know,” he said.

It means you’re pretty good, he was reminded, as if he didn't realize the Texans, who were 11-1 and had also won six straight, were just another game on the schedule.

“Obviously, the Texans are a good football team and we did a pretty good job of executing for the first half for the most part, but we still have things we need to improve on,” he said. “I think we had a great week of practice and we did the things that were necessary to come out and execute well and it was a team effort.”

Lloyd was obviously practicing the Patriots’ way of saying something but saying nothing, which is a shame since he was quite enthusiastic earlier in the season. It was a shame because he certainly had something to celebrate after this decisive win.

At 2:49 of the first quarter, the Pats having scored on a Brady-to-Aaron Hernandez 7-yard pass, Lloyd headed out into the flats and kept on running. Brady lofted a perfectly arched ball that fell into Lloyd’s hands, and he was off for the end zone, giving the Pats a 14-0 start. “Yeah that was definitely a scheme play,” he said, “and we worked hard on that all week and when the opportunity presented itself and coach (Josh) McDaniels called it at the right time, and we were able to take advantage of it.”

“That was well executed,” said coach Bill Belichick. “That was great protection, great run fake, and Brandon got a couple of steps behind the secondary and Tom hit him. The players did a good job on that.”

Not only was it big for the team, but also for Lloyd. A week earlier he’d been targeted only once, capping a six-game string of games in which he came up with only 16 receptions. In the first six games of the season he came up with 34.

Page 2 of 2 - There were questions about his ability to create separation from defenders, and even his ability to mesh with Brady, so this performance seemed to slam the door on those thoughts. Yet Lloyd said he had no idea how involved he’d be for this game. He said he had no thoughts about having such a big game, either. “I don’t know how many yards I had.”

As for clicking with Brady once again: “I mean, we’re just executing the plays. I haven’t seen the film, but I don’t really have any comments about it right now.”

Lloyd kept his head in the game nicely, though, and when Danny Woodhead made a nice run, only to have the ball poked out of his hands 45 seconds into the fourth quarter, Lloyd was on the spot to fall on the ball in the end zone.

“I don’t know,” he said, when asked about that play. “It was a screen pass and I’m just doing my best to block downfield and the ball popped out. Pretty much all I know right now. As long as it puts points on the board. It doesn’t really matter how they come.”

Not too high, not too low, that’s how Lloyd played the game Monday night. We’ll never know exactly how he feels about the performance or about his team. “I don’t know. I think coach Bill has a better gauge on the pulse of the team,” he said.